The Monterey Pop Festival took place over three days in June 1967. 

Four men organized the Monterey Pop Festival: L.A. music business hustler Alan Pariser,
producer/entrepreneur Lou Adler, the Mamas & the Papas leader John Phillips  and former Beatles’ publicist Derek Taylor  The “international” part was provided by Indian sitar master Ravi Shankar and South African  jazz trumpeter Hugh Masekela.

Other acts included were- from LA, The Byrds, The Association, Simon and Garfunkel, The Mamas 
& the Papas.  From San Francisco came Big Brother & the Holding Company, Steve Miller Band, The Grateful  Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Electric Flag (Buddy Miles on drums), Country Joe & the Fish, and Quicksilver Messenger Service. 

Otis Redding backed by Booker T. and the MG’s (Steve Cropper on guitar) represented soul music.  From Great Britain came Eric Burdon & the Animals, The Who and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Paul McCartney, as a member of the [celebrity board] for the Monterey Pop Festival, gave the Jimi Hendrix Experience his highest recommendation.

That same month, the Beatles had released Sgt. Pepper.  The Doors’ ‘Light My Fire’ and Procul Harum’s ‘Whiter Shade of Pale’ entered the US charts.  John Phillips wrote a theme song- ‘San Francisco (Wear Some Flowers In Your Hair)’, sung by one-hit wonder Scott McKenzie, which resulted in thousands of stoned teenagers running to San Francisco and ruining everything.